Improving Accessibility in Your Retail Store

Improving Accessibility in Your Retail Store


4 Ways to Improve Disabled Access

For the majority of UK consumers, a Saturday afternoon spent shopping on their local High Street is an enjoyable experience. For 1.2 million UK shoppers though, it’s anything but. Wheelchair users find it frustrating and alienating to be unable to access shops. And it’s not just shoppers who are missing out. Retailers across the UK lose £267 million each month because of poor accessibility.


Wondering Where to Start?

The Tower Lifts team has never yet met a retailer who wasn’t interested in improving accessibility in their store. Many of the people we speak to, though, simply don’t know where to begin. For that reason, we’ve come up with 4 ways to improve accessibility – and some of them can be implemented immediately.

  1. Train Your Staff. Your employees may be nervous about dealing with disabled customers. Have a conversation about ways they can offer help to any customer who is struggling to navigate the store. Disability Rights UK runs training courses to help businesses be more inclusive.
  2. Make Your Store Easy to Navigate. If you put yourself in the place of a wheelchair user it becomes clear what you need to do. Aisles should wide enough to accommodate a wheeklchair. There needs to be access to all parts of the store, and the floorspace needs to be kept clear of stock to allow for easy navigation.
  3. Provide Access Between Levels. If your store is split level, think about how you can make it accessible. One option is to provide a ramp, if you have the space. Alternatively, you could install a step lift to travel up a short flight of steps either inside your store or leading to the store entrance.
  4. Offer an Alternative to Stairs. If you have multiple floors, disabled shoppers will need a lift to move between them. A vertical platform lift is designed specifically for wheelchair users and can be adapted to fit the space you have available. There’s no lift shaft required, so installation is quick and causes minimum disruption.

Shout About Accessibility

The moment you make your retail store accessible, you have a great news story to share on social media, your website and in local listings of shops with disabled access. You’ll also have new customers ready to try out your accessibility and buy from your store. Make sure that all your employees are trained in communicating clearly with customers and operating your step or vertical lift.


Working With Tower Lifts

Improving accessibility in your retail store is all about enhancing the shopping environment for customers. Tower Lifts designs and installs bespoke platform lifts that integrate seamlessly with your store’s décor, and your brand. Virtually everything about our lifts can be customised, from the colour scheme to the lighting and the operating mechanism.


Would you like some advice on installing a platform lift to make your retail store more accessible? Call Tower Lifts today on 01525 601099


Tower Lifts carry out design and installation on a varied range of lifts throughout the UK including:

Domestic Lifts • Food Lifts • Bespoke Platform Lifts • Service Lifts • Platform Lifts • Goods Lifts • Scenic Lifts • Heavy Duty / Car Lifts • Passenger Lifts • Dumbwaiter Lifts • MRL Lifts • Fire lifts • Residential Lifts • low-Headroom Lift